


nights spent staring at the moon

by anattemptatwordbending



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: as she should, i love yue and katara, katara is going to burn the patriarchy to the ground, katara might be kind of in love with yue its unclear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25957144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anattemptatwordbending/pseuds/anattemptatwordbending
Summary: Her eyes closing slowly, her body falling. Looking almost peaceful, looking almost asleep.Katara had never seen someone die. Not like this. Not two feet away from her, not with tears in their eyes. Not so gently, like a candle being blown out.Katara forms a bond with Yue while she is alive. And then all of the sudden she's gone.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 119





	nights spent staring at the moon

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched the book one finale last night and this idea would not leave me alone, so here it is!!
> 
> (To my sister: ily)

Her eyes closing slowly, her body falling. Looking almost peaceful, looking almost asleep. 

Katara had never seen someone die. Not like this. Not two feet away from her, not with tears in their eyes. Not so gently, like a candle being blown out. 

~~~

The first conversation Katara had had with Yue was short, but she’d never forget it.

“Hello, Katara,” she’d said in that sweet voice she had. “How’s travelling the world?”

“It’s kind of amazing, but also kind of stressful,” Katara admitted. Yue laughed, in a proper fashion, with her hand held over her mouth.

“How about you? How’s being a princess?”

Yue’s face fell, and Katara regretted asking. “It’s alright,” Yue said lightly, in a way that implied the direct opposite. Katara wanted to ask what was wrong, but she was afraid that would be overstepping, so she stayed silent.

“These are great,” she remarked instead, holding up an appetizer. Yue blinked, as if zoning back in from a daydream. 

“Oh, yes, those are fantastic!” she said politely. Katara told herself not to wonder too much, not to make it her mission to help this girl. She had other things to do. But Yue never left the back of her mind.

There was something about her-- Katara didn’t know whether it was her eyes that looked like they shone by themselves, or the way her voice seemed so kind. Maybe it was her laugh, like she wanted to be loud, but she had to keep it in control, had to hide her mouth, had to stay... perfect.

Katara thought that she’d be perfect no matter how she laughed.

~~~

“She’s engaged,” Sokka groaned, pulling a pillow over his head. “ _Arranged marriage_.”

Oh. _Oh._

Katara slipped out as soon as the two of them fell asleep. It was easy to find Yue, standing on the bridge staring at the moon. It’s exactly where Katara would have gone.

“Hey,” Katara whispered, and Yue turned around quickly, her eyes widening when she saw Katara.

“Oh, hi,” she said, wiping her face. Katara realized she had been crying.

“Are you alright?” Katara asked. Yue looked at her intently for a moment, as if trying to see if she was sincere. She turned back to look at the moon.

“No.”

“I heard about your marriage,” Katara ventured softly. 

“I will be fine,” Yue said, her voice emotionless.

“No,” Katara said firmly. “It’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to do this.”

“Perhaps, but I have no power to change it. My life does not belong to me. My happiness is inconsequential.”

“This isn’t okay.”

Yue whirled to face Katara, rage in her eyes. “You think I’m okay with this? My future has been promised to a man I do not care about. I’m expected to give up everything for a society that’s treated me as lesser since the moment I was born.”

Katara wanted to step back, but she held her ground. “I know. Trust me, I _know_. I just… I want to help you.”

Yue’s eyes softened, like she was looking at Katara for the first time. “That’s very kind,” she said, her voice restored to how she spoke at the big social gatherings. Katara wished the emotion would come back. “But this is my path.”

“But _why?_ It isn’t fair. It isn’t right.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Yue said. “I wish it did.”

“Okay,” Katara said softly. “Okay. But for one night, just for tonight, let it matter.”

~~~

Yue told Katara about everything.

About Hahn, who cared more about showing off to her father than he cared about her. About the way he’d sometimes speak to her, like she was not a person but an object, his personal servant.

About her father, who loved her but sometimes said that he wished he’d had a son. About the talk he’d had with her before she turned sixteen: this is your job, just as the men train to fight, you will become someone’s wife.

About the weird looks she’d get from men on the street that scared her, about how she hadn’t been allowed to train with a sword because it wasn’t her place, about people telling her to smile and to sit correctly and to laugh but not too hard until everything she did was just a product of what she’d been told.

Katara listened.

And the anger in her chest, the anger that had been there since the first time she’d been told to help with dinner while Sokka played, it grew with every word from Yue’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Yue said. “That was a lot.”

“No,” Katara said. “Don’t apologize. We’ve been apologizing for existing our whole lives. For once, just _be_. We don’t have to worry about those jerks right now. Right now, it’s just us.”

The world is just us.

~~~

Ash began to fall from the sky.

~~~

Katara watched Yue as the ships fired on her home. Her eyes were wide.

“Aang will succeed,” Katara said.

Yue’s hands gripped the railing tightly. “He has to.”

~~~

“Come with us.” Yue looked at her, and Katara wasn’t sure whether she was imagining the hope in her eyes. The wind whipped around them, but to Katara the space between them seemed completely quiet.

“Come with us,” Katara said again. “When we leave. You can escape this place.”

Yue looked away. “I can’t, you know I can’t.”

“Why not?” Katara asked. The snow fell around them, but she was warm. The anger in her chest was a fire that twisted into determination. “You deserve more than this. Don’t let them win. Don’t let them tell you what you are.”

“This is what I am,” she whispered, her voice broken.

Katara put her hand on Yue’s shoulder. “That’s not true. I know you, Yue. And you’re so much more. You’re so full of ideas, and ambition, and love. You’re not only worth what they say you are.”

“You’re right,” Yue said after a second, and Katara could hear that anger in her voice. She could hear the fire starting to spread. “I am worth so much more. We are both worth so much more.”

“Run away with us,” Katara said. And she was sure. _Run away with us. Run away, so maybe one day I can hear your real laugh._

“Maybe,” Yue murmured. “Maybe I will.”

~~~

The two of them were silent as Aang entered the spirit world. 

And after a few minutes, Katara’s hand slipped into Yue’s.

She imagined the flame held between their hands. The fire, the anger, the determination. 

_They were worth more. They would be more._

The flame would grow. The fire would consume everything.

They would fight to be equal.

And in that moment, holding Yue’s hand, Katara was sure they would win.

~~~

The moon disappeared.

~~~

It was seconds. Katara didn’t have a chance to think, a chance to say goodbye. It was seconds, and then she was gone.

~~~

“Goodbye, Sokka. I’ll always be with you.”

Katara wondered if she would have said goodbye to her, if she’d had more time. If she would have told her that she’d always be there, no matter how alone Katara felt. That she was always watching over her.

She’d fall asleep asking that question for many nights to come.

~~~

It was a little while before Katara really realized. A few hours before it set in, before her emotions caught up with her thoughts.

She’d held Yue’s hand so recently. She’d spoken to her. She’d never be able to do it again.

She walked to the same place she’d found Yue just a few nights before, and she looked up at the moon. “This isn’t fair,” she whispered. “You were worth more than this.”

She saw tears hitting the ground, and she realized they were hers.

“You were worth so much more.”

She realized she’d never be able to hear Yue’s laugh.

The moon was full. Katara closed her eyes.

“You were one of the strongest people I ever knew,” she said. “I will not let you die for nothing.”

She opened her eyes and she stared straight at the moon. She tried to imagine Yue watching her from all the way up there.

“This isn’t fair,” she murmured again. “You are worth so much more.”

The fire in her chest raged.

~~~

They continued on.

Katara spent night after night staring at the moon.

~~~

“I loved her,” Sokka whimpered, shaking with tears. “And she’s gone.”

Katara held him tightly. “She’s with you still,” she whispered to him. 

He shook his head. “It’s not enough.” He is right. It is not enough.

Katara did not tell him that she loved Yue too.

~~~

Katara didn’t have time to mourn. They trained. They fought. 

Every night she thought of the way Yue’s eyes used to shine, and she wondered if she was watching. If she cared. If she was proud.

Every day she worked. They would win. They had to.

~~~

The war ended, but Katara’s fight was not over.

~~~

She travelled back to the Northern Water Tribe. She travelled back as the most powerful waterbender in the world.

She taught a group of women to waterbend, so that they could teach the others. A new generation of women would know how.

Katara spoke at huge gatherings, at huge dinners. She talked about the importance of equality for women and men. 

She travelled to all girl’s schools, and she filled their hearts with fire. She told them they were worth more, they were worth as much as anyone. She told them they would have to fight every day of their lives to be seen as strong. 

“And you will make it,” she said. “I know you will, because I know you. You are all full of ideas, and ambition, and love. You are all bright. This is a fight, but it’s a fight you will _win._ ”

A young girl approached her after her speech and shyly showed her the way she could twist the water through her fingers.

Everything she’d put into this fight was worth it for that moment. 

She could feel Yue beside her, holding her hand.

~~~

On the last day before she left, Katara finally decided to visit the pond.

She couldn’t do it before, but now she could. Now that she could say, _look what I have done. I have lit the match that will start the chain reaction that will eventually make us be seen as how much we are actually worth._ Now that she could say, _Yue, you did not die for nothing. You died for all those little girls who are going to change the world._

Now that she could tell her, _Yue, I did it for you._

She dropped to her knees in front of the water, watching the two koi fish twist round and round. 

Her tears dropped into the pond. 

“It wasn’t fair that you died,” she whispered. “I miss you, Yue. I miss you every day.”

“Katara,” Yue said in that sweet voice she always had. “I am always with you.”

Katara looked up, but there was noone there. Maybe she had imagined it.

Maybe she had imagined it, but she also knew she hadn’t.

~~~

Katara was finally back with her family. She could finally breathe. She could finally rest.

She was staying in the Fire Nation, with Sokka, Toph, Zuko, and Aang. And she had decided there was something she wanted to tell Sokka about.

“Sokka?” She asked quietly. “Can I talk to you about something?” 

“Sure,” he said. They were standing on the balcony. The moon was full.

“I need to talk about Yue.”

Sokka’s brow creased. “What about her?”

“I just,” Katara could feel her voice getting thick, but she didn’t care. “I loved her.”

Sokka’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t know… I didn’t know you cared.”

“I did. I do.” A tear ran down her face. Sokka pulled her into a hug.

“She’s always with us,” Sokka whispered, and Katara could tell he was crying too.

“It’s not enough,” she said.

“No, it’s not.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, pleaseee leave a comment to make up for how much I cried writing this (I'm an emotional person, okay???)


End file.
